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and Youth Care program. Upon completing her degree and working in the
field, Dannielle realized she wanted to do more, undoubtedly pulled by the
realization that the most vulnerable in our society need advocates too.
So she applied, and to the surprise of no one was accepted, to the University
of Victoria’s law school. With no courses offered on children and the
law, she sought out sponsorship from professors to do directed studies on
topics like child victims as witnesses and youth justice.
Those who knew Dannielle during her law school years will attest that
even early in her legal endeavours, Dannielle exhibited fairness, empathy
and efficiency. In her first year of law school, Dannielle was noted for correcting
the behaviour of a certain professor who had, for weeks, gone well
over the allotted time for the end of class, often cutting into personal and
family needs of students. One day at the scheduled end of class, Dannielle,
knowing how these late sittings were impacting people, politely but firmly
closed her text book and just looked at that professor. After mere seconds,
the professor stopped talking, recognized the time and let the class go.
Thereafter, even the professor knew that the end of class was signalled
by Dannielle closing her textbook.
Similarly, in law school, being a more settled and organized person than
your average law student, Dannielle would often host friends and peers for
dinners, games or movie nights. Dannielle’s home was often an oasis for her
far less settled law school peers. That said, Dannielle always had excellent
boundaries and never hesitated to send people on their way with a gentle
reminder when it was time to go home.
In 1995, Dannielle and Darren got married, and in 1996 settled in Delta
where Darren was a member of the Delta Police Department for the next 24
years. After articling at McEachern Caissie under the mentorship of Brent
Stickland, Dannielle started her legal career as a poverty law staff lawyer at
the Langley Legal Assistance Centre in 1998.
In 2000, the Dunns welcomed their eldest son, Cameron, and in 2004,
they welcomed their second son, Jamie. Dannielle and Darren thoroughly
enjoyed raising the boys in North Delta and were involved in many community
activities: baseball and hockey with Cameron, and arts and gymnastics
with Jamie. The Dunn parents can often be heard exuding pride over the
boys’ accomplishments.
2000 was also a milestone year in Dannielle’s career, as it was the same
year she began working at Somers and Company (now Somers Poulin Hall),
where she would work until her appointment. Dannielle chose Somers and
Company for the opportunity to work with and learn from Gary Somers,
Q.C., a pioneer in the development of child protection law in British Columbia.
Gary also promoted a work-life balance for the lawyers who worked for